Divine carrot & cardamom soup

I make
this soup on regular basis in the winter season, when it gets cold and dark. It’s
the perfect comfort food. Lively colors of chopped vegetables (purple and
orange) elevate my spirits instantly. Even my 2 year old son, who is normally
very fussy with soups, eats this one with a great satisfaction. It is so easy
to prepare and also inexpensive that it is almost too nice to be true. No need
for a stock is another big advantage of this recipe. When I cook soups which
require stock and I don’t have any, I feel pretty bad using some instant thing
(even though I use a good one).

But let’s
start from the beginning: I was literally digging out some carrots with my bare
hands, just a few weeks ago, when I was visiting some friends in Dyssekilde -
en ecovillage in North Sjaelland. It is a lovely little oases inhabited by around
200 people who share their passion for healthy lifestyle, ecology and close to
nature living in general. Place itself is really hip with its colorful folks
and cool eco-architecture.

Anyway, so
there I was, in the open field, in the end of November, pulling carrots from
the cold soil, in a freezing and windy afternoon. This down to earth gardening
experience inspired me to include carrots little bit more in my cooking this
season.

Yes! The carrot
season is also now! Not only in the spring, when supermarkets starts to sell appealing
long and skinny new carrots with their green tops on. The truth is that locally
grown carrots are in season from spring to late fall, when they are the
freshest and most flavorful.

We don’t
think about it a lot, as they are available throughout the year in every
supermarket. It is just a carrot after all, not a sophisticated and pricey early
asparagus, not even a modest pumpkin which everybody is so devoted to every autumn.
Unpretentious carrot is a veg left alone with no special enthusiasm or celebration.

Here, in
the recipe below, is my gratitude: the quintessence of the carrot brought to
you in a form of an old good carrot soup, with a modern spicy twist. Honestly,
this soup, you are about to cook, tastes heavenly. It gives you
much more oral pleasure than you expect from this vegetable ;)

2. Remove the seeds from cardamom pods, grind them in mortar. Avoid using
commercially ground cardamom, because once the seeds are ground they quickly lose their aroma; by all means - do the job yourself!

3. Heat the olive oil and cook the chopped onion on medium heat for about
2-3 minutes.

4. Add the ground coriander and cardamom. Let cook on medium heat for
2-3 minutes so the spices develop.

5. Add the sliced carrots. Cook for 3-4 minutes. In a meantime bring full
kettle of water to boil. Pour the hot water over the carrots, so it barely covers
them. Season with salt and pepper, cover and simmer until the carrots are
tender (about 30-40 min).

6. When the soup cools down a bit mix your soup finely with a handheld
blender. If the soup is too thick according to your taste just add more hot
water. I like my carrot soup creamy and
thick. Check the seasoning.

Almost everybody knows that carrot gets its
characteristic bright orange color from β-carotene, which humans can metabolize
into vitamin A. That is excellent news.
We all know that vitamins are good for health, especially the ones that come directly
from fruits and vegetables. Not everybody knows however, that if you eat a raw
carrot only 3% of the β-carotene is released to our bodies during digestion. On
the contrary, if you cook and pulp carrots with some oil, this number increases
up to 39%!